Porto welcomes Ibero-American researchers to reflect on communication

"Communication, identities and dialogue in the mediated city" is the central theme that brings together Ibero-American experts in Porto for the 17th Editions of the IBERCOM congress. For three days, through lectures and presentation of academic papers, the Super Bock Arena – Pavilhão Rosa Mota is the place to where the “dialogues and interactions of the cities and their occupants – with each other and with itself, are debated and reflected on - at a time when the world is changing”.

“In an extremely mediatized society where knowledge and technology are highly valued, the affirmation of cities necessarily depends on their ability to use new communication and information platforms”, said the mayor of Porto, at the opening session of the congress, this Thursday morning.

For Rui Moreira, “a city that wants to guarantee quality of life, attract talent, be economically competitive and gain an international dimension has to create effective means of communication within and outside of its community”, adding that “communication with the local community must be inclusive and socially mobilizing, so that the good public governance is assured”.

Congratulating the organization of the Ibero-American Congress of Communication in the city, which “reinforces its vocation to be a pivotal place for different cultures, worldviews and ways of being and living”, the mayor reinforced how “in collaboration with the academic community and the scientific system, Porto is today a living lab for the cities of the future”, having been chosen by the European Commission for the “100 Intelligent Cities Challenge”.

With the Municipality of Porto “open to the collaboration with higher education institutions, companies, associations and other public decision-makers in smart cities solutions”, Rui Moreira stated at the opening of the IBERCOM that “it is important to mobilize local agents around models of sustainable and intelligent development” and that information and communication technologies “have revolutionized the relationship between political decision-makers’ with the community, allowing gains in efficiency, quality and transparency in public management”.

The president of the Associação Ibero-Americana de Investigadores de Comunicação (ASSIBERCOM), which organizes IBERCOM in partnership with CITCEM – Centro de Investigação Transdisciplinar «Cultura, Espaço e Memória», Unidade de I&D da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto (FLUP), highlighted this as a space for the “democratization of reaserch results” for the researchers present and for “promising debates with so many perspectives on the universe of communication”.

“The communication area has a lot to contribute to the understanding of the reality of our cities, so passed on by technological mediation, but also capable of recognizing the plurality of identities and seeking the civilizational model guided by Peace and public interest”, said Cicilia Krohling Peruzzo.

For the director of FLUP, “the issue of identities, in a globalized world connected by digital networks, poses difficult but challenging questions for those who work in the area of communication”. “The Academia has the obligation to be at the forefront in this debate and in the production of knowledge and thought”, assumed Fernanda Ribeiro.

The organization of IBERCOM in the city has the support of Porto City Hall, which, at the end of the first day’s event, received the congressmen in the Council Chambers.